Balanchine's Tarantella
by An-obscene-amount-of-hygge
Summary: Summary: Katie Holt, the unlikely ballerina has had a crush on her fellow principal dancer, Lance McClain since she first joined the company. Will Katie ever admit to having feelings for him? Will Lance ever reciprocate her feelings? (Plance/Pidgance/Pance fanfic)
1. Chapter 1

Katie Holt wouldn't consider herself fit for her job. Principal dancers needed to be tall with long limbs. Katie was 5' 4". Usually principal dancers had been dancing most of their life. Katie didn't start until she was 13. Most principal dancers graduated college with a dance degree. Katie graduated with a Mathematics degree. She was the most unfit dancer in her mind, let alone principal dancer for her company. Lance McClain on the other hand was perfect. He had been dancing since he was 6, is 6 foot, and graduated from a specialized ballet school funded by their company. He had no need to go on to college as he was selected in his senior year to continue as a dancer for the company. Although she could easily name off 17 other dancers from the corps de ballet more suited for the job, she was glad to be able to dance with Lance and have a 6 hour rehearsal with just the two of them 5 days a week and a combined rehearsal with the corps de ballet, soloists, and understudies.

"We don't have all day Katie! Hurry up!" Lance called from the other side of the studio.

They had just finished warming up with the rest of the company and now were starting their rehearsal for their pas de deux from the Nutcracker.

"Ya, ya don't get your dance belt all in a twist." Katie said as she tucked her tied ribbon to the side of her leg, effectively securing her pointe shoe, ignoring the glare the Cuban shot at her.

Pas de deuxs were difficult when the man behind you, lifting you, and none the less touching you, is who you've been crushing on since you got into the company. Many girls(and even guys) would die, or even kill, to be in Katie's position right now. She was very, _very_ lucky.

"Alright, let's go over the lifts towards the end," the ballet master said, thus beginning the rehearsal.

* * *

Katie looked at the ugly bruises lining her torso in the mirror of the studio before warm ups. Her new olive colored leo she had been anticipating on wearing for weeks did very little to cover the evidence of the failed lift in practice the other day. The leo was just too cute to not wear, not even considering that Katie forgot to do laundry. Again.

"Is that from rehearsal the other day…?" a voice whispered almost hesitant, even a little nervously.

"Doesn't really matter where I got them, but don't think I'm not going to still beat you for dropping me," Katie smirked at Lance's reflection in the mirror, a little shocked to see how his face wrinkled in worry before smirking back at her in the mirror. _Frowns really don't suit him_ , she thought to herself.

"Well you already hit me several times with one of your pointe shoes."

"They were brand new, I needed to break them in somehow."

"And hitting my body with it is the way to do it?" he asked with a quizzical expression.

"Hitting your thick skull breaks them in faster than any old cement sidewalk could." She teased while pulling her black tights further up her torso in an attempt to hide her bruises more. Hiding the small wince resulting from resting the tights against one of her worse bruises and proceeding to check out her body lines as well as testing her posture. She tried not to notice Lance's eyes lingering on her derriere a tick too long before lightly touching one of the visible bruises. Katie tensed and her heart seemed to get stuck in her throat.

"Are you sure you're okay? Have you seen the doctor yet?" Lance said as his face grew more serious than she's seen the entire time of them being friends. _Oh._ She thought. _He really wasn't looking there was he…_

"Yes, I'm fine mommy Lance," Katie mocked before turning to lean against the barre to look him in the eye, returning his serious look. "They said I was lucky to haven't dislocated or fractured anything. I don't fancy the idea of doing lifts for a while until the bruises are gone though." Katie cringed imagining the pain that would result if they did a lift and all her weight were to go on one of the bruises for several, agonizing counts.

"What? You don't trust me now?!" he said feigning pain. "You wound me, Kathryn Holt!"

"That's not even my real name!" Katie giggled.

"It's hard to believe Katie isn't short for anything though."

"Lots of Katies are like that, Lance."

"Uh, huh. Whatever," he said as he started to stretch before class.

Katie couldn't help but notice how the other girls looked at her with envy. _If only they knew Lance was actually stupid and insufferable, would they still want him?_ Katie wondered to herself as she pulled on her leg warmers and jogger jacket. _Well, that doesn't seem to stop me…_ Katie considered to herself.

The hardest part of combined rehearsals is the fact that Lance always flirts with all the other girls and never seems to notice Katie. The little moments they would share would seem to flit out the window with him.

After the warm up class had finished and Katie was on a lunch break, the owner of the ballet approached her, looking really excited.

"Katie! How are you?" she asked brightly.

"I'm fine Ms. Johnson. What can I do for you?" Katie wondered if she had done anything to make the owner come to her personally.

"Straight to the point still, I see. I was wondering if I could talk to you in private for a moment?" Ms. Johnson asked while wringing her hands together a little nervously.

"Uh, sure I guess," she answered with uncertainty.


	2. Chapter 2

Lance knew his partner better than anyone else and he knew something major was on her mind. Katie only makes major mistakes when something was bothering her and today, she was forgetting choreography and doing the wrong type of arabesques in their pas de deux in almost every turn combo.

"What's wrong? Pet die or something?" lance said as he sat by Katie on the ground.

"No, why?" She didn't even glance at him. Lance ignored the pain he felt as he realized she was avoiding looking him in the eyes.

"You were horrible in class today, Katie. Somethings wrong." Lance nudged her a little. "Now spil-"

"I'm going to a different company for a collaboration," interrupted Katie.

"Oh," muttered Lance with eyes wide in shock. "Isn't that a good thing though?"

"Maybe for you because you're so confident and talented," she finally looked him the eye. "I'm not as good as people make me out to be, Lance. Hell, I'm not even as pretty as people claim. And my replacement? She's gorgeous and perfect, Lance. I'm worried the replacement will turn out to be permanent."

"I doubt it," snorted Lance.

"This isn't a joke, Lance! I'm serious," Katie grabbed her things and left in a rush. She didn't want to admit she had a major crush on him and knew he would forget her the second the Prima ballerina would come.

* * *

Katie and Lance were to greet Katie's replacement with Ms. Johnson at the airport.

"I wonder if she's as tall as they say she is," mused a blushing Lance. Katie had learned that Lance had a major celebrity crush on Miss Allura Altea for years. Katie's worry didn't ease at all when she saw her approaching them from within the crowded airport. She glanced at Lance to her left and immediately regretted seeing his star-struck, beet-red face.

"Hello, Allura!" Ms. Johnson greeted as she shook hands with Allura. "These are our principal dancers Lance McClain and Katie Holt."

"Hello," Allura immediately went to a shocked Katie and grabbed both her hands. "It's so wonderful to finally meet you Miss Holt!"

"Oh, ditto. Please just call me Katie, though. There's no room for formalities here," Katie said with a shy smile as Allura turned to Lance.

"Nice to finally meet you," Lance said as he gently grabbed Allura's hand and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand. Katie frowned and looked away.

* * *

They drove Allura back to the company and both Lance and Katie were put in charge of giving Allura a tour. As she suspected she would be, Katie was immediately thrust into the third wheel position. Watching Lance whisper jokes and hearing Allura's beautiful bell-tone laugh in response made her absolutely sick. Apparently, Allura had danced the same variation of The Nutcracker they were finishing putting on that night and wanted to dance it with Lance. Katie, was of course, in charge of hitting the play button on the music.

Watching the two of them dance reminded Katie of two birds dancing in the air in complete synch. _They sure do have chemistry._ Katie thought to herself in contemplation. _I could never have that level of beautiful body lines like Allura. They are like a match made in heaven…_ Katie closed her eyes before her eyes started tearing up. _I guess it's time to give up on Lance McClain._

When Katie was getting ready for her last performance of the Nutcracker, Lance burst into her dressing room, still in his regular clothes.

"Where did you go earlier? I have so much to catch you up on!" Lance fell into a seat in an audible and ungraceful fashion.

"I don't think I want to know, " admitted Katie under her breath, choosing to focus on her make up instead of the boy-like man beside her.

"Yes you do, you're like my only best friend here Katie. You _have_ to listen to me and care. It's like the rule of being best friends!" pouted Lance. Katie tried to ignore the pain that grew in her chest at the word "friend."

"You can talk, but I can't guarantee I'm actually listening or not."

"That's good enough for me," Lance said happily and commenced to rant to Katie all about how beautiful Allura was in person and how she truly is a gifted prima ballerina. Katie chose to focus on her false lashes instead of the heartbreak she felt as she listened to how smitten Lance was for the prima.

* * *

The performance went on without a problem and Katie danced her heart out. Her family surprised her by waiting for her back stage once the ballet had finished.

"Pidge! You were so great! I'm so proud of you!" her brother Matt mused as he hugged his smaller sister.

"I didn't think you and Dad were going to make it?" Katie wonder aloud as she hugged both of her parents and accepted the bouquet they had got her as per tradition.

"It's almost Christmas, most people are trying to get the 25th off, not the 16th," their dad said incredulously.

"I guess that sounds about right," smiled Katie. She had momentarily forgot all about Lance who was watching from only a few feet away with a small smile himself. "Oh, how is work going? How close are we to sending people to Mars?"

"Getting closer and closer everyday," Matt said proudly as he slung an arm around his sister.

"That's so cool," mused Katie, going off onto an intelligent discussion with her family of the wonders of space.

As Lance watched and listened from a safe distance away, Allura walked up besides him and whispered, startling the Cuban man. "You like her, don't you?"

"What? No! We're like best bros. There's no way I could like her," defended Lance.

"That's the same look my father gave my mother all the time and the same look my boyfriend gives me at home," smirked Allura.

"B-boyfriend?" muttered Lance. "I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. You _are_ a catch," smiled Lance.

Allura giggled. "Thought I should be clean and make sure you don't hate me if you found out later. That wouldn't be good for our professional relationship."

Lance chuckled. "You're right."

When Katie glanced and saw Lance laughing with Allura, her heart sunk yet again. _I can't do this anymore._ She thought. _I'm going to get over Lance McClain._


	3. Chapter 3

After the very emotional goodbyes exchange with her family, Katie wasn't expecting anything big as a welcome to the company she was a guest at. Boy, was she wrong. Not only was the entire company of dancers there, but they had made a huge "Welcome Katie Holt!" banner decorated with her many interests. How the heck did they find out she loved space and robots to begin with? After standing there in shock for a moment, a tall man with a white streak of hair came to greet her.

"Hello Katie. My name is Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro. I'm a ballet Master you'll be working with closely during this collab," Shiro said as he held out his hand for Katie to shake.

Katie slowly grabbed his hand. "Hi, you can actually call me Pidge. That's my nick name within my family. Kinda tired of hearing Katie everyday." She smiled shyly. Katie turned to look at the rest of the company. "You company is much larger than mine. How did you manage to get everyone here?"

"The option of a day off if they came to greet you is a good ultimatum," he said as he winked teasingly. "I trust that Allura made it safely then?"

"Yup. She fits right in as well." The ballerina turned and watched a ginger man with a mustache come up to greet her as well.

"My name is Coran. I am the owner. It's great to finally meet you, Miss Holt."

"You can call me Pidge, Nice to meet you too Coran."

The rest of the day went by very quick for Katie. She got to briefly meet her partner, Keith, for the performance of DonQ. But he was very serious and quiet. Shiro said he was just shy at first and everything would be easier as he got to know her better. Katie didn't know if that was true since Keith only spoke technique with her for the first week. Never the less, Katie wanted to try and talk with him once more.

"Hey, keith. Sleep well last night?" inquired Katie as she tied her pointe shoes on.

"Not really," he admitted.

"Oh? Why not?" she questioned as she paused.

"Was too anxious," Keith simply stated as he pulled his warm ups off.

"Why?" pressed Katie smirking. "Gonna ask a pretty person out on a Friday night date?"

"Something like that I guess," smiled Keith. "Shiro wants us to bond."

"Ew… No offense but you could do way better than me," laughed Katie, surprised to find that Keith was laughing too.

"So what do you say, Pidge? Movie night tonight?"

Katie pretended to think. "Well I guess I could reschedule my self-loathing for tomorrow… But only if we're watching a cheesy show instead of movie. Nothing too serious, okay?"

"Deal," Keith promised as they shook on it and got ready for their long rehearsal.

* * *

Katie was surprised to find out how she and Keith worked very well together not only as dancers, but as friends as well. If she wasn't thinking too hard, she might even consider that their friendship rivalled even her and Lance's back at home. Every Friday night, after they had finished both The Big Bang Theory and Parks and Rec, they started watching random weird rom-coms from the Hallmark Channel. Of course Katie documented their jokes and fun times all over social media, especially snapchat. Little did she know that Lance was finally starting to realize his feelings for her when she rarely thought him any more since she started being friends with Keith.

Lance saw everything she put of them on social media and found himself dancing a little more full of anger whenever he happened to think of Katie in practice. _Why does she let him call her Pidge? The last time I tried calling her by Pidge I almost had a pointe shoe shoved down my throat._

"-ance. Lance!"

Lance stopped what he was doing to look at Allura.

"You did your ménage 2 times when you were only supposed to go once. What's wrong?" She inquired.

"Just thinking of Katie again… It just pisses me off so much that she's having so much fun with another guy the moment I realize I like her," Lance mumbled as he folded his arms frustrate.

"I keep telling you not to worry and so does you friend Hunk. There's obviously nothing between them," she said frustrated herself because Lance just won't listen to her advice.

"I can't just stop worrying, Allura! Aren't you worried about your boyfriend cheating?"

"No, I'm not. That's because I _trust_ him Lance." Allura sighed as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Have a little faith in Katie."

Lance looked up at her sadly, obviously still feeling insecure and hurt. "Are you sure there's nothing to worry about?"

"I'm certain." Allura smiled before hugging him. "Let's get back to rehearsing now."


	4. Chapter 4

Don Quixote was super hard for Katie to master technically. The ballet is set in Spain when exploration was a major concern with an emphasis on the more Spanish side of ballet technique. As a result, everything was bigger, more showy, and faster in comparison to more known ballets like Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake. Just because it is a hard ballet doesn't mean she didn't like it, however. Faster was usually more entertaining and more fun to dance for a full house. One thing she could do without was all the sexual innuendos and especially the kisses she and Keith had to pretend to be enraptured in as Don Quixote and Kitri openly expressed their love for the other. Thankfully, all the kisses were fake and didn't involve any awkward moments between Katie and her new found friend.

"Ugh… Why was Spain so _sexual_?" Katie complained aloud to Keith as they walked together from the studio to a nearby café. They had decided on getting hot chocolate since it had been snowing all day.

"All the brothels and gypsies, maybe?" Keith suggested as he pulled his coat tighter in an attempt to keep the cold out.

"That's not really a great thing to be remembered by…" she mumbled more to herself.

As they went into the warm café, Katie checked her phone out of habit. She saw a snapchat notification from Lance that was sent not too long ago. She furrowed her brow in confusion. _That's strange for him to want to talk to me first. Probably wants dating advice again._ She thought as she ordered and sat down by the window as Keith waited for their drinks. Katie quickly opened it to see what he had sent.

 _'Look, it's you!'_ was the caption with a blurry pigeon seemingly pecking at some food still in it's wrapper with a smiling Lance in the corner of the screen. Katie snickered to herself. _What a dork._

Before she could reply, he had sent another one. _'It stole my sandwich!'_ was the caption with the same bird flying away with a piece of bread. That was all it took to get Katie laughing aloud.

"What's so funny? More blackmail on Shiro?" Keith asked as he sat by Katie and set their drinks down.

"No, my dance partner from home was just attacked by a pigeon," Katie said fighting back more giggles as she wiped a stray tear from under her eye.

"Is he the one you like?" he asked nonchalantly.

Katie blushed furiously and quickly retorted, "No! Well… Maybe at one point I did, but he likes someone else…" she mumbled the last part and visibly deflated slightly as she sipped on her hot chocolate.

"Have you replied to him yet?" Keith asked curiously.

"Not yet, why?" she said, knowing that look he got meant trouble.

"Good, I have an idea."

* * *

Lance was about to explode. _How_ _ **dare**_ _she leave me on open! That was a pure masterpiece that took all day and 5 pigeons to get right!_ He thought to himself as he pouted in his apartment. _A simple 'Lol' would have sufficed not silence for 2 hours…_ He sighed and fell onto the couch dejectedly. _I bet she's with that stupid Keith guy…_ Lance frowned and patted his cheeks. _Stop it! Allura promised nothing could be going on between them. Stop worrying._ Right then Lance's phone alerted him he got a new message. Excited, he flew from the couch and dove to grab his phone off the table.

"Finally!" he exclaimed as he saw it was from Katie. After quickly opening her reply, his jaw dropped in shock. She looked like she was in the middle of laughing, but the thing was, was that she had her hair down and curled into waves with a bit of lip gloss coating her lips. _'Idiot'_ was all she said. Lance had forgotten how much he missed her laughs in response to his jokes in rehearsal. Allura would give him a smile at most. He replied quickly before he would regret his decision.

(page break)

"Are you sure about this…?" Katie asked to both Keith and the small woman on the laptop screen. Keith dragged her to his apartment to video call Allura for help.

"Completely. Especially since he hasn't even seen your hair out of your ballet bun, this'll get his attention in the very least." Allura's voice said from the speakers.

"I still think a little more shoulder woul-" a pillow thrown from the couch stopped Keith from finishing his sentence.

"I'm not trying to seduce him, Keith!" yelled a flustered Katie.

"Just dance Lydia's dance in Act 3 of DonQ if that's what you want," Keith flinched as Katie threatened to throw the last couch pillow at his head. The girl had superhero strength when she was mad, and Keith would very much prefer to keep his face as is.

"I'm not belly dancing either," pouted the small dancer, offering a glare at a laughing Allura on Keith's laptop.

"Has he replied yet?" Allura asked.

"Oh ya," said Katie as she picked her phone to check. "Ya, he has." Katie moved so they could all see his reply.

The snap was of him facepalming and smiling largely with a tint of pink on his bronze cheeks. He had put _'I saved them, so we can add them to our best friend scrapbook! Also… who are you getting all cute for? They are lucky.'_ Towards the bottom of the picture.

Keith looked up see Katie a bright pink. He laughs as he waves a hand in front of her face. "Helloo? Earth to Pidge? Man, you seeing this Allura? She's whipped."

"I am," giggles Allura. "Well I should go, update me tomorrow how everything goes, okay?"

"Roger that," said Keith as he hung up and shut down his laptop. He looks back at Katie to find her face covered and curled into a ball on the couch. Seeing his moment, he grabs her phone and snaps a picture of her and sends it to Lance, saying ' _I think you broke her'_ and sets her phone back down. "Let's get you to your apartment. No offense, but this was more than enough of playing wingman for a whole month."

Katie groans as she sits up and nods. "Thanks for everything. See ya tomorrow, I guess." She quickly grabs her things and goes home, emotionally exhausted.

* * *

When Katie made it back to her apartment, she saw Lance had screenshotted the last snap she sent. _Wait… I never replied back to him…_ She frowned as she realized it must have been Keith. She quickly sent a message asking what Keith sent him before shaking off her coat and the snowflakes from her hair and clothes.

While she sat down to work on programing her simple and small robot, she thought about what had just occurred.

 _Nothing he said really indicated he likes me… Just the usual playful banter between friends, right? He of all people should know I don't really do dates in the first place._ Katie shook her thoughts from her head to focus on typing the right commands for the robot.

* * *

"Lance! Hey! There you are!" Allura exclaimed as she found Lance in the warm up area.

"What's up, Allura?" he asked suspiciously. She rarely looked for him of her own accord.

"I was just sent an extra ticket for the performance Katie is doing, but I can't make it that night. Do you want it?" she asked happily.

"Aren't they performing the same time we are...?" Lance slowly stood up.

"Nope this is the only night we don't conflict with them. So do you want it?"

"I don't see why not," he smiled as he grabbed the ticket from her hand. _This'll be a nice change to be able to just watch and not perform… and to see Katie dance from a different view too._ Lance blushed a bit and smiled at the thought of seeing her for the first time in a few months. "Thanks Allura." He smiled at her and put the ticket in his bag. May 13th couldn't come fast enough.


End file.
